Rhetorical Devices Flashcards
Synecdoche
a figure of speech in which a part stands for the whole.
ex.
a. Genus Substituted for the Whole:
- - vessel for ship; Weapon for Sword; Creature for Man
b. Species for Genus:
- - Bread for Food; Cutthroat for Assassin
c. Part Substituted for the Whole:
- - Sail for Ship; Hands for Helpers; Roofs for Houses
d. Matter for what is Made From It:
- - Sliver for Money; Canvas for Sail; Steel for Sword
Metonymy
= substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is actually meant.
ex. …..
Puns
= generic name for those figures which make a play on words
ex.
a. Antanaclasis
b. Paronomasia
c. Syllepsis
Antanaclasis
= repetition of a word in two different senses.
ex. “But lest I should be condemned of introducing LICENSE, when I oppose LICENSING….”
Anaphora
= repetition of the same word or group of words at the BEGINNINGS of successive clauses.
ex.
Epistrophe
= repetition of the same word or group of words at the ENDS of successive clauses.
ex.
Panchronistic
…
Synchronistic
…
Anthimeria
= the substitution of one part of speech for another.
ex.
- - “I’ll UNHAIR thy head.”
- - “The thunder would not PEACE at my bidding.”
Periphrasis
= substitution of a descriptive word or phrase for a proper name or of a proper name for a quality associated with the name.
ex. “They do not escape JIM CROW; they merely encounter….”
Paronomasia
= use of words alike in sound but different in meaning.
ex. “Independence is what a boy feels when all he wants from father is to be left A LOAN.”
Syllepsis
= use of words understood differently in relation to two or more other words, which it modifies or governs.
ex. “
Personification (or Prosopopoeia)
= investing abstractions or inanimate objects with human qualities or attributes.
ex. “The ground THIRSTS for rain.”
Hyperbole
= the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
ex.
Litotes
= deliberate use of understatement, not to deceive someone but to enhance the impressiveness of what we say.
ex.
- - “I am a citizen of no mean city.”
- - “To write is, indeed, no unpleasing employment.”
- - “It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.”
Rhetorical Question (erotema)
= asking a question, not for the purpose of eliciting an answer but for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely.
ex.
Irony
= use of a word in such a way as to convey a meaning opposite to the literal meaning of the word.
ex.
Parallelism
= similarity of structure in a pari or series of related words, phrases, or clauses.
ex.
IMPORTANT: Nouns yoked with Nouns, Prep. Phrases with Prep. Phrases, etc.
Isocolon
= Scheme of Parallelism where parallel elements are similar not only in structure but in Length.
ex. “His purpose was TO IMPRESS THE IGNORANT, TO PERPLEX THE DUBIOUS, and TO CONFOUND THE SCRUPULOUS.” [to + Verb + the + Noun – x3]
Antithesis
= the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, often in parallel structure.
ex.
Polysyndeton
= opposite deliberate use of many conjunctions.
ex. (Gospel of Mark… AND, AND, AND, ….)
Alliteration
= repetition of initial or medial CONSONANTS in two or more adjacent words.
ex. “A sable, silent, solemn forest stood.”
Assonance
= the repetition of similar VOWEL sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words.
ex.
Inclusio
= rhetorical device, also called ‘Cyclical Composition,” in which the author returns to the point where he began.
Auxesis
= magnifying importance by referring with a disproportionate name
Chiasm (Chiastic Structure)
=
Semantic Field
=
